Dragon Eye
by altaratheblack
Summary: This story has been changed to a chapter story by popular demand. Hiei explains the story of how he and kurama came to be, plus how the others reacted to it and why. PG 13 for language and stuff.
1. The Beginning of the End

A/N: Read and review. If you don't like the pairing, too bad, I do not accept flames. I do not own blah blah....  
  
This world is full of cruel irony. Everything is a paradox. Love is hate. War is peace. It's nothing like my world. Here, because of love, I am hated. Here, I must fight to keep the peace. Here, my friends must be my enemies. In my world, what I do is my buisness and mine alone, and no one would care if I did there what I have done here. But nomatter what, I am condemned to this world until further notice.  
  
There are some good things about this world, however. That stupid fox being one of them. I learned to love here. Before I came here, I was cold and unfeeling, killing when I had to and never missing a trick. Yet, as everything does, feelings have a price, and that price is pain. Because I have fallen in love with the fox, I am suddenly subject to all sorts of ridicule. And guilt, another new emotion, prevents me from killing the patronizing fools who dare to play with my newfound feelings. That damn carrot top and that cocky bastard.  
  
Why must they do these things to me? It was bad enough having to walk through the idiots hand in hand with Kurama, listening to them snicker as we passed, but their jokes were just cruel. Wrestling me into womens' clothing, telling dirty jokes that I had to have Kurama explain so I could understand...those alone were too much. But whenever I picked my lover up from school, the glares we received were so saturated with hate that they made me cringe. As ironic as it is, I hated the hate.  
I regret nothing that has happened between Shuiichi and I. I love him with all my heart, every fiber of my being. He is everthing anyone could ever hope for. But I do wish that someone could understand. Love alone with no one to talk to is....lonely... 


	2. The Meeting

A/N: Gee, I thought I said no flames. Anyway, the flames were without merit. I thoroughly believe that Kuwabara and Yusuke are good people, and I will explain both Hiei's emotions and their games in due time.

Chapter 2

I believe I should explain how all of this occurred and thus explain why I am in my current predicament with Kurama himself. It must have started that night...without my knowing...

I went to fetch Yusuke for a new mission with Koenma, and to my great surprise, walked in on both Keiko and the dimwit himself at a... bad time. After a few minutes of chaos and some sights I would much rather forget, the two of them settled down.

"Is it the brat?" he asked with a tinge of bitterness in his voice. I use the term "tinge" lightly.

"Yes," I said quietly. "a matter of great urgency has arisen, and you are needed."

He snorted. "Needed?" he said. "Since when have you needed me?"

"I don't," I said shortly. "They do. The carrot top and that baka kitsune are waiting at Genkai's place. We should go as soon as you're dressed."

He harrumphed, but got dressed anyway.

We arrived shortly after one in the morning. Kurama was leaning against the far wall talking with Genkai, and Kuwabara was looking out the window pensively.

As much as I hate to admit it, I cared about them. All of them. So I was very worried when I realized that Botan wasn't there. I chose not to acknowledge this and took a seat near the kitsune.

"There has been a breakthrough in the barrier case. It may be possible to seal the barrier between Makai and Ningenkai once and for all," Genkai said. "the only problem is that the demons who are here now will be unable to return to Makai. Which happens to include you, Hiei."

I was stunned. How? What would it take to make them realize..? I couldn't stay here forever. But I couldn't live without the things here....would I ever see them again? No, I decided, I could not go back to demon world. Surprising, isn't it? How what should have been such a difficult decision for me was now so simple.

"I'll stay here," I said, earning looks from everyone in the room. Especially Kurama. That stare was almost intoxicating in the brief moment of utmost happiness they had shown me. Genkai smiled at me.

"Well, now, that was easier than Koenma thought it would be," she said with a faint note of sarcasm in her voice. "Now the only person we need to talk to is Yukina."

Everyone froze as Genkai realized what she had just said. But instead of giving them the obvious reaction I normally had when they spoke about her (extreme anger, no doubt), I merely gave them a 'hn' and walked towards the window that Kuwabara had been staring out of previously. I opened it and jumped into the night.

It had begun to rain. Or pour, rather. The droplets almost felt like bullets raining down on my head. My normally very tall hair had sagged down to my waist. I sprinted to the first place that came to my mind.

There was a window right outside the fox's window that I rested in some nights when I felt I should be near him. It was there I waited patiently for his return.


	3. The Window

A/N: I do not..own..zzzzzzz....

Chapter 3

The Window

I woke around midnight with a headache, and realized that a branch had been stabbing into the back of my neck for the half an hour I'd been there. I stretched, and tensed my legs. Cleared my mind. What was I doing? I should have left. But I didn't. I waited two more hours for him to get home. When his bedroom door finally opened, I leapt onto the windowsill and tapped the glass.

He stared at me for a moment, surprised. Then he tiptoed over to the window and slid it slowly open.

"What are you doing here so late?" he said. "And in the rain, too."

It was then I remembered it was raining, and that my cloak was soaked through. I was a little embarrassed. But why was I? It was just the rain. Why should I be embarrassed?

"I ran off earlier, and I wanted to know how we plan to close the barrier," I lied. "Would you mind filling me in?"

A flicker of what seemed to be disappointment flickered in his eyes. But why?

"Yes. I'll tell you everything. But only after you come inside and change clothes. You're soaked, and I won't have you getting sick." He seemed tired. Old almost. "And don't try to tell me, 'demons don't get sick', because they do." He forced a smile. "Especially waterlogged fire demons."

My pride was burned, but that didn't last long. It was Kurama. How could I stay mad at him? I lowered myself into his room carefully, and rushed into his bathroom and back with a towel before I could get the carpeting wet. After toweling myself off, I changed into the clothes that had appeared on the bed. A long-sleeve white t-shirt and jeans. Kurama was hanging my cape up in the doorway.

"You should take better care of yourself. Get an apartment or something. You'll be here for the rest of your life now. Adapt to it." There was no bitterness in his voice, only sadness. I understood why, though many would have missed it. When Kurama died, he would return to demon world, and would never see—or maybe even care about—the Reikai Tantei ever again. My heart broke when I thought about that. He wouldn't be my Shuiichi...wait a minute. MY Shuiichi? He wasn't mine...what was that supposed to mean anyways?

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a sheet snapping in the air.

"I'll lay a futon out here for tonight, but be sure not to wake my mother in the morning. She isn't expecting a boy who looks my age asleep in my room. Can you imagine?" He laughed. "That's all I need."

I did not understand his humor. Perhaps this statement had an underlying meaning that would be of some use later. "Thank you," I said, almost too quietly for him to hear. "You're so kind to me..."

"Not a problem. How could I even dream of being mean to _you,_ of all people?" his words were even softer than mine had been. He threw himself upon his bed, spread-eagled. "Now, for the mission explanation. You know that we were planning on closing the barrier, but how? It has remained open for thousands of years, so why can we close it now? When a demon recently tried to open the barrier, we realized what could close the barrier. What if we could make a demon so powerful that it's only spirit energy? We could use its essence to scare away smaller demons—plus, it would be unbreakable. Force would be futile.

"One such demon was recently discovered. His name is Higoki. Powerful though he is—an S class demon, as a matter of fact—he is peaceful. He wants an end to the wars between the human and demon worlds. But to seal the barrier with his energy, we need a sealing force powerful enough to place his energy inside the hole."

"So basically," I said, barely containing my sarcasm, "Koenma needs us to push a cork into a bottle?"

Kurama laughed. "Exactly."

"Hn." I laid down on my futon and crossed my arms behind my head. "These missions just keep getting more trivial."

"True," he said, playing with one of long locks of hair. I wondered absently if his hair was soft. "But someone has to do trivial things, or you can't move on to the bigger jobs."

Another hidden statement. Who were you waiting for to finish, Kurama?

I thought about saying something to him. About the thoughts I couldn't seem to control. About the new feelings I'd been having. But I found myself rendered speechless. I was unable to tell him something for the first time since I'd met him. It was an odd feeling.

As though he could read my mind, he said, "Something troubling you, Hiei?"

I froze up. I knew he could tell that I was uncomfortable, and that knowledge was a major blow to my ego, but my ego was the least of my worries at that point. I had to tell him.

"I've been...hiding something from you for about a month now," I said quietly. "I don't know if it would be a good idea for you to find out, either."

He showed great interest in that statement. He turned over to face me. "Go on."

"I've been having these strong emotions..." I stopped. I could feel the hope radiating off of his aura, and it confused me. Did he know? How could he? I shook my head and continued. "For someone and I'm having trouble dealing with them."

"What sort of feelings?" he said gently.

"I can't describe it," I said, my voice noticeably shaking. "It's too hard."

"Well, you should try to express those feelings to the person. It might help you figure them out."

I nodded. "Thank you, Kurama."

"It's Shuiichi," he said quietly before falling asleep.


	4. Hidden Meaning

A/N: I realize that this chapter was a little rushed, but I only have a limited amount of time on the computer a day (I'm grounded), I have to hurry if I'm not going to keep you waiting.

Chapter 4

Hidden Meaning

We all know what subliminal messages are. But Kurama is the master of the subliminal. He didn't have to say a word to me the morning after for me to see that he was disappointed, for him to say that he was expecting something. The question was, what was he expecting?

I wanted to ask him, but I was a coward.

Funny that I would say that I'm a coward when I have stared into the face of death countless times, when I have stood and fought when I could have run, but it's true. I was afraid of the feelings I had, and afraid of what I knew they could do to me. I realized that they would either be exposed or I would expose them eventually, but I was very intent on procrastination. That would be my main objective until the world came to a fiery end from a comet landing directly on the spot I was standing in. Unfortunately for me, the earth would start to burn much sooner than expected.

The stupid fox didn't stop badgering me the entire day.

We spent the day together, walking around, speaking little. When we did speak, it was always him saying, "Are you okay" and I responding, "Yes, baka, I'm fine."

About the thousandth time he said that, we were on a park bench deep inside the premises where nobody went on a Sunday, Saturday, or any other day of the week for that matter. We were secluded, alone.

I had nowhere to run.

"Are you okay?"  
Every time.

"Are you okay?"

Every time I though about him.

"Hiei?  
I would never be able to get rid of that feeling that stirred inside me, the urge to say something other than, "Yes, fine."

"Hiei, are you listening?"

"YES, FOR GOD'S SAKE, I AM LISTENING TO YOU!!! I ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOU!! I COULDN'T STOP LISTENING TO YOU IF I WANTED TO!!!! I LOVE YOU, FOR GOD'S SAKE KURAMA!!!!_ I LOVE YOU!!!_"

Well, as you might have guessed, he was taken back by this (decidedly loud) statement. The shock in his eyes was enough for me to rewind what I had said and replay it in my head. When I realized the full consequence of my little speech, I decided to run. My specialty. Except for the fact that his arm was now around my shoulders, preventing my escape. The feel of his touch was quite a new emotion. I turned to look at him, and as I did, he kissed me.

Well, that was yet another surprise I wouldn't have minded a forewarning for.

I can't really remember what happened the next few minutes. I only remember the feeling of his lips on mine…and kissing him back. When we parted, he smiled, as though there was some grand revelation in this. I, however, was still thoroughly and totally dumbfounded.

He laughed, and kissed me again. He wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his face in my hair. I felt all of this, and responded as best I could. I had no idea what to do, but for him, I would try.

I don't know how long we stayed there talking, but I do know that even when the moon went down, I was still saying "I love you."


End file.
